to them, and acting upon the Impreffions made by them; not defer them to the laft, when they can hardly contribute any Thing either to ufeful Direction, or well-grounded Comfort ; and perhaps may only encourage an Imagination, moft pernicious to the Souls of Men, that a few Formalities, in the Conclufion ọf Life, will atone for fpending it ill. If we take Refuge in Religion with a bad Heart unwillingly, it will be of no Service to us: and if we really delight in its Offices, we shall have Recourse to them early; indeed we shall live in the Observance of them always; only repeating them more frequently, and if poffible, with more intenfe Application of Mind, as our Need becomes more urgent. For thus our Strength will increase with our Burthen: and when our Flesh and our Heart faileth, God fhall be the Strength of our Heart, and our Portion for ever'. Pf. lxxiii. 26. SER SERMON XV. ROM. xiv. 9. For to this End Chrift both died and rofe and revived, that he might be Lord both of the Dead and Living. TH b HE public Offices of our Church have led us, within a few Months, through most of the principal Transactions of our bleffed Redeemer's Life on Earth. We have commemorated his Condefcenfion to take upon him the Likeness of finful Flesh", his fubmitting to fulfil the Righteousness of the Jewish Law, and his early Manifestation to the Gentile World; his fafting forty Days and Nights, and yielding afterwards to be tempted in all Points as we are, yet without Sin". Many of his wonderful Works, many of his gracious Inftructions, have been rehearsed in b Matth. iii. 15. c Heb. iv. 15. a Rom. viii. 3. and d our Ears; and very lately his most bitter Sufferings and Death represented, as it were, before our Eyes. We have accompanied him, from his Sorrows and Agonies in the Garden, through all the fad Variety of Difgrace and Pain that he underwent, till he bowed his Head, gave up the Ghost on the Cross. We have seen his dead Body pierced to the Heart with a Spear, taken down and interred, the Sepulchre closed, fealed up, and guarded; his Disciples, though continuing to honour him, quite in Defpair about him: and yet we find him this Day risen again, to die no more. Surely it is Time we fhould afk ourselves what was the Meaning of fo unparalleled a Tranfaction, to which the Attention of all Mankind hath been called fo folemnly ever fince? It could not be merely to move our Compaffion with a piteous Hiftory, that God fent his Son from Heaven, to live in Wretchednefs and die in Torment; nor to fill us with a vain Admiration, that he raised him from the Grave, and hath placed him at his own right Hand. What then was the View and Use of this moft extraordinary Difpenfation? The Text informs us. To this End Chrift both died & John xix. 30. and and rofe and revived; or, as it should be translated, and is elsewhere in the New Teftament, lives again, that he might be Lord both of the Dead and the Living. Every Thing he did or fuffered was ordained to accomplish that merciful and awful Scheme of Providence, our Saviour's univerfal Dominion over all; to make the Obedient good and happy, and reward the Difobedient according to their Works. This important Doctrine I fhall I. Explain and prove. Then fhew, I. Chrift indeed, as the eternal Son of the Father, had original Glory and Dominion before the World exifted; was in the Beginning with God, and was God. But the Apostle fpeaks not here of that Dignity and Power which his divine Nature always poffeffed, but which his human Nature acquired, by dying and rifing and living again. It is true, the former Part of his Life contributed greatly, both by his Doctrine and Example, to set up that Kingdom of Righteousness, over which he was to reign. And even then the Father had given all Things into his Hand', and committed e John i. 1. f John iii. 35. all Judgment to him. But this being done in Confideration of his future Sufferings, on them the Foundation of his Authority is laid in Scripture. Thus St. Paul teaches, that, because being in the Form of God, he was willing to take upon him the Form of a Servant, an inferior and miniftering Nature, as ours is; and then, being found in Fashion as a Man, humbled himself yet lower unto the Death of the Cross: therefore God hath highly exalted him, and given him a Name above every Name". But elsewhere he more determinately grounds his Sovereignty on his Paffion alone; We fee Jefus, for the fuffering of Death, crowned with Glory and Honour1, And justly doth it intitle him to an Authority over us, fince it gained him a Property in us. For Sin both fubjecting Men by its Guilt, as Debtors and Criminals, to the just Sentence of God, and by its Dominion, as Captives and Slaves, to the unjuft Empire of the Devil; our Saviour, by delivering us in each of these Respects, hath obtained a double Right to us. By giving his Life a Ranfom to Divine Justice, he hath bought us to himfelf with the Price of his Blood; fo that we are his in Right of Purchase. And having * John v. 22. Phil, ii, 6-9. i Heb. ii. 9. de |